Latvia to Vote on Dissolving Parliament Amid Corruption Probe

By Aaron Eglitis -
May 28, 2011

Latvians will this year vote in a
referendum to dissolve the parliament after President Valdis Zatlers responded to lawmakers’ failure to lift the immunity of
a deputy targeted by a corruption probe by calling the vote.

Zatlers, whose four-year term expires in July, doesn’t have
the right to dissolve parliament outright. Lawmakers, elected in
October, will decide next week whether to extend his term or to
pick a new president. A lost referendum would require Zatlers to
resign.

“This decision is difficult for me personally,” he said in
a televised address yesterday. “I clearly understand the
consequences of this decision and my chances.”

Latvia’s anti-corruption agency opened a probe against a
number of unnamed officials on May 20. Parliament on May 26
voted against a request from the general prosecutor to lift the
immunity of Ainars Slesers, an opposition member of parliament
and former transport minister, to allow a search of his home.

The vote was “like a siren that warned about a serious
conflict between the power of the legislative branch and the
judiciary,” Zatlers said. “A feeling arises that the newly
elected parliament feels comfortable in an atmosphere of lies
and impunity.”

Anti-corruption agents conducted searches at a number of
companies and offices last week, Latvian Television reported on
May 26.

“The evidence in our possession gives reason to believe
that public officials and officials holding a responsible
position” may have participated in operating businesses and
received dividends from secretly held shares in companies, the
bureau said in a statement on its website the same day. It is
also looking into possible bribery and bribe taking, according
to the statement on May 26.

Slesers wasn’t mentioned in the bureau’s news release,
which refers to an unidentified member of parliament who may
have influenced decision-making at a number of companies and
secretly held shares in others.

“What I can unequivocally say is that the facts that are
mentioned do not correspond to the truth,” Slesers told
reporters in comments broadcast on Latvian Television on May 26.
“I’m not an owner of any of the businesses mentioned.”